Garmin GPS Reviews

Free, fast and easy. Software updates guarantee you have the latest features on your Garmin device. And you don’t have to be a technician or take a day off work to get it done. Our engineers and testers put our devices through some of the most rigorous conditions known to man. But sometimes it’s the little things that can make an amazing device even better. That’s why our teams take customer feedback to heart and offer solutions through free software updates at Garmin.com.

Simply find your product, click on Updates & Downloads and follow the simple instructions. To see an online demo on updating your Forerunner 405, click here for our YouTube videos. As Peg wrote in last week’s blog post before the KC marathon, updating your software could mean the difference between being ready to start the race when the gun fires … or having to wait for your watch to wake up. And for outdoor enthusiasts, the newest updates offer your Oregon or Colorado several enhancements that we’ve detailed below.

After doing the free software update, Oregon users will see multiple Bluechart improvements, including changes to the tide charts and fishing contours. There are also updates that make editing locations quicker and easier. And based on user request, we’ve added NAD83 and GDA94 datums. Colorado users now have the ability to add comments in their Geocaching.com field notes, and Colorado and Oregon users alike will notice that any jumbled text that might show up in cache descriptions has been fixed.

There are more common features shared in the Oregon and Colorado updates. Users can now add points to a route by finding them on the map, and they have the option of turning off elevation shading. And falling under the category of making a great thing even better, improvements have been made to the GPS accuracy as well as the accuracy of the altimeter. And these improvements can help you better track the barometric pressure over a few days so you can tell if high- or low-pressure fronts are coming in.

So regardless of whether you purchased your device this week or have been a Garmin user for years, update your device today and take advantage of the improvements made by our tireless teams.

Beware the things that go bump in the night! They’ve found their way to a nüvi near your just in time for Halloween. Introducing the Boo! Bundle - our newest addition to the Garmin Garage. It’s been a strange last few weeks around the place . . . we’d work all day creating vehicles for you and then head home for the evening. Each morning, we’d return and find that the shop had been disturbed. A misplaced wrench here. A light left on there. And strange noises throughout. It had us pretty concerned and poor Scooter - he’s had nightmares all week. Well, it finally made sense today when the Boo! Bundle showed up. And it looks like the trick was on us and the treat is for you! Now there are now 6 new additions to the Garmin Garage and we’re happy to introduce: Dead End, FrankenScooter, Knuckles, Sugar Rush, Vroom Broom and Scary Scooter. Grab ‘em all today and dress your nüvi, zumo, or StreetPilot up for all Hallow’s Eve. And don’t be scared - all of these icons are just dying to meet you! Happy Halloween from all of us at the Garmin Garage!

New neighborhoods are built, points of interest move and highway exits change. With the nüMaps Guarantee program, when a customer starts using their new Garmin, they can be assured that their unit will have access to the latest version of road maps.

It’s easy - after you purchase your new nüvi or zumo PND, register your unit at http://my.garmin.com within 60 days of the first use. If new map data is available anytime during that 60-day period, you can request and download the new data - free of charge - by following simple online prompts.

Register today to see if you qualify for the nuMaps Guarantee!

Garmin-sponsored triathlete Ben Collins shares his training and racing experiences with the Garmin Edge 705 and Forerunner 405.

Today I arrived in Incline Village, NV. It’s a break from the monotony of PT and orthopedic visits and from doing out and back runs on the side of a completely flat bike trail in Seattle. My knee is feeling better and I’m finally starting to get back into somewhat normal training. With just 29 days left in the season, that’s a great thing. So here I am in a new town, getting ready to train by myself on uncharted roads and trails (to me). Today I went for a short spin to get the airplane out of my legs, and realized why so many people come to Lake Tahoe for a vacation. It is beautiful here! I was so captured by the sights that I alternated between being nearly hit by cars on the highway and nearly drifting off the side of the road. Later in the day I ran with my friend Courtenay Brown on part of the Xterra US National Championship course, which was way more fun than my bike trail at home. Now, if I can relearn to breathe at 6,400 feet, I’m in for a great weekend training trip.

It’s been nearly 6 weeks since my last great adventure with Jake and several other Garmin associates—the 197-mile Hood to Coast Relay. While we reveled in the highlights of our 24 hours of misery in good company, teammate Byron said simply “too much downtime.” We soon learned that Byron’s bucket list included another run at Furnace Creek—a punishing 508-mile nonstop bike race that swings through Death Valley. Temps can hit 110 in the day with little reprieve once night falls.

This was the third time for Byron to race the 508. By the way, he’s also done 22 marathons (many of them barefoot) and competed in Ironman. This year, Byron (or The Raven, his chosen race name for this event) and 3-man crew had Garmin devices for navigation and communication for every mile. For the bike, Byron was guided with an Edge 705 loaded with the course ridden last year by a relay team who finished in 33 hours. A nuvi in the support van helped the crew find gas and water, and a set of Rino 120s allowed rider and crew to converse and find each other. Byron: “This is a race made for a Garminized bike and pacer vehicle. It gets pretty lonely out near Badwater at 1-3 in the morning. The racer really starts to look for feedback from the exhausted crew. No need to bother them if you have the 705; it’s got everything I need plus entertainment in case I want to humor myself and find out how far the nearest Starbucks is.” Check out more photos and race reports here.